Extended White Weenie III: A New List and the Big Finish
Mike unveils his new version of White Weenie, then sends it off to battle nine of the top decks in the Extended format! So how did he fare? Only one way to find out…
Extended White Weenie Part II: The Rest of the Matchups
In Part I, we looked at some of the most extreme matchups for Extended White Weenie, both the worst (board-locking NO Stick and Pernicious Deed-packing Rock), as well as what we initially thought of as some of the best – Red Decks. While the various Rock decks and U/W control were about as bad as expected, and Red Deck Wins was maybe even better than expected, Goblins didn’t turn out as expected at all. In this section, we will round up most of the rest of the expected Extended metagame and begin to determine if White Weenie is bad or just misunderstood.
Extended White Weenie: Extreme Matchups
Flores: Tell me a deck I can write about that your readers will love.
Knut: Well Mike, you know how much you love U/G Threshold? The readers at StarCityGames.com are like that about White Weenie, except even more so. They have a passion for that deck that burns brighter than ten thousand suns.
Flores: Okay, but this will be Extended, not some Romeo-style Standard deck.
Knut: Even better!
The Sordid History of U/G Threshold
Before you get too far into this article, please keep in mind that this is the sordid history of U/G Threshold, rather than a proper one in the vein of Deck Histories and Concepts or some such. Rather than mentioning such actually successful masters of the Mongoose as David Humpherys or Raphael Levy, this article is going to focus on a series of decks designed by yours truly and Brian David-Marshall since Odyssey Block. BDM and I love this deck to what can only be considered an unhealthy degree and if you play it you might too.
Fumbling Towards Adequacy
Bad Player Flores publically revisits a recent string of mistakes in order to better explain many of the theoretical concepts he has discussed in the last year and hopefully make us all better players in the process. Don’t be ashamed for Mike folks, just learn from him and try not to make the same mistakes he does.
Just How Good is Volcanic Hammer?
The deck in question is Red Deck Wins. The question in question is “Jet or Hammer?” Last week we talked about these cards in the RDW mirror match, and I came out saying that I like Magma Jet more. Since then, two outstanding Red mages have stepped forward supporting Volcanic Hammer. Now, I agree with them that Hammer is better in the mirror, but what about the other matchups?
Intricacies of the RDW Mirror Match
If you followed the PT Columbus coverage at the Tournament Center, you know that my favorite deck of the Pro Tour was Red Deck Wins. I watched Shuhei Nakamura win a series of improbable matchups on his way to a loss in the finals (to what should have been a good matchup). He played for the most part a very tight game, constricting the turns that his opponents had to answer his threats, bowling them over with a combination of aggressive attackers and finishing burn that would make Dave Price proud. Red Deck Wins is a straightforward deck that doesn’t get color-screwed, doesn’t fizzle, and has game against every single archetype. But which version is optimal?
Still the Best
In addition to giving a restrospective on the previous “official” champions we’ve had in the Magic writing world, Mike takes a look back at the legacy and the legend of the crazy old genius who inhabits the body of one Eric “Dinosaur” Taylor.
Fun With Vampiric Tutor
The one and only michaelj takes a look at the best and worst things you can do with one Black mana, and talks about some of the theory behind proper use of Vampiric Tutor.
Degree of Difficulty
Some years ago, there was a Sideboard Ask the Pros question that asked, “What is the most difficult deck to play?” In order to correctly answer that question, we must first describe certain elements of Magic skill. What does it mean for a deck to be “difficult to play”? What does it mean for a format to be skill-intensive or skill-testing? Is Type One, a blisteringly-fast format, one of the toughest… And what is the most difficult deck of all-time?
Higher Ground
You don’t necessarily have to play some decks perfectly because they give you so much room for error. You can screw up by a card, or three cards – but since you drew ten more cards than your opponent did, you don’t even notice.
But how does that speak to a deck like Ravager Affinity? Sure, Ravager has Thoughtcast, but today’s Affinity isn’t known for its card advantage… But maybe that’s because we don’t look at Ravager’s card advantage the right way.
The Sublimity of Forgiveness
How does The Man in the Iron Mask, Alexandre Dumas, and the concept of forgiveness tie in with Mono-Blue decks in Standard and the idea that “control decks are hard to play”? Mike has the answers, in an article that will probably turn out to be another landmark in the career of this Magic literary giant.
Top 10 Things I Learned From the 2004 Championship Deck Challenge
To better prepare our readers for Champs, StarCityGames.com hired some of the best Constructed deckbuilders and writers in the world to explore the new Standard format, and according to the feedback we received on this project, it was one of our most successful ideas ever. Today Mike looks back on everything that he learned from designing and testing decks for the Challenge and shares with you ten lessons that will help you rise above the competition tomorrow and secure a spot in the top 8.
The 2004 Championship Deck Challenge: Keys to the Kingdom
Ahh, Green Week!
I actually have an interesting build of Tooth and Nail that independently echoes some commentary that I’ve read from players like Antonino DeRosa and giant monsters expert Jeff Garza. For whatever reason, I elected to go a different direction for Green week and learned some surprising things along the way.
U/W – The Week in Review
“I don’t like UW control, I had to build a UW control deck. If it were up to me, I would just play Affinity at States because it’s the best deck in the world. However, the powers that be realize that you people refuse to play the best deck, opting for some goofy creation that can’t beat it, so they left it up to us to give you some options.”
-Osyp Lebedowicz